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Category HORTICULTURE

The company that wants to make the transition to total quality manage­ment must do these things:

1. Recognize that quality can be defined and evaluated only by the external consumer client.

2. Analyze the processes that collectively comprise the products and services of the company.

3. Identify the steps within each process.

4. Scrutinize each step for problems and incrementally improve each step and each process.

5. Enlist the recognition by every employee that he or she is working to serve and satisfy the customer.

6. Identify to all employees their dual roles as a provider of materials or services within a process and as an internal customer with the right to expect the input from other providers to be complete and ready for use.

Total quality management is the monitoring of processes and the peo­ple who perform those processes. It takes the spotlight off the finished product or service as the measurement of quality and instead scrutinizes the many little steps that lead to the finished product or service. While requiring a new definition of quality to recognize that it is client-driven, TQM also requires an expanded concept of who the customers are.

The traditional customer is the one who places the order and pays the bill. Every employee in the company must understand the obliga­tion to satisfy the external customer and exceed his or her expectations. However, TQM recognizes other customers, internal customers, who are the employees of the company and who receive the output of the process that precedes theirs...

Putting the new definition of quality into the management methods of a company requires a departure from some deep-rooted traditions in American business. Now outdated are the beliefs that the company sets the standard of quality and that the time to measure standards is at the end of the process. If a shrub was unsatisfactory at the time of delivery, it was replaced. If a poinsettia had whiteflies when delivered, the grower apologized to the retailer and replaced it. If the patio wasn’t graded cor­rectly and surface water ran toward the house, it was torn out and done again. Heads may have rolled later back at the company. All such action awaited delivery of the product or service before applying standards or measuring client satisfaction...

While it is not easy to gain widespread acceptance of a new definition for a familiar term, the business world is beginning to understand that there is no quality standard for a product or service until the customers’ satisfaction is registered. Giving the customers exactly what they want plus an extra measure of value without additional charge is or should be the goal of every business in America today.

Quality: Meeting the customer’s requirements and exceeding those expectations.

This new definition means that the customer becomes the judge of quality and that the businessperson must find ways of measuring the customer’s satisfaction. The new definition also means that the product or service must provide additional features that surpass the customer’s expectations...

The end of World War II left the economy of the world tilted heavily in favor of the United States. Europe and most of Asia were left with only skeletal remains of their prewar industrial capability. American factories were intact and able to convert from the production of war goods to the manufacture of countless products and machines needed by the rest of the world...

Just as the development of automobiles negated the need for buggy makers, the use of word processors has sent typewriter manufacturers into bankruptcy. The incorporation of new technology into horticulture companies has created some problems. The one most common to all types of businesses is the impact on the workforce. Most upgrades in technology necessitate the retraining of some employees. That may or may not involve an expense. Some technical advances also displace workers or require their replacement with better-educated workers who expect higher salaries, and who may not be easily recruited. Older work­ers, long in their service and loyalty to a company, and knowledgeable of existing technology, may resist accepting the new knowledge and techniques...

Futuring is always fun. Fortune tellers have been reading tea leaves for many years, hoping to foresee what will happen next. The early years of a new century seem to amplify the excitement and the expectations that wonderful new things loom on the horizon. It seems safe to say that Americans are expecting this country to lead the world into the Age of Technology, as the 21st century has already been dubbed, just as we took the lead in science during the 20th century. The businesses, scien­tists, educators, practitioners, and customers of the green industry can anticipate further changes in how ornamental horticulture is practiced and presented in the near and distant future...

The green industry business that remains most tied to its handcrafting roots is retail floristry. However, even it has become high-tech in com­parison to its recent past. While worldwide wire service is not new, the method and speed of transmission are as current as the latest telecom­munications technology can make them. Florists across the country and around the world are linked by means of numerous cooperative agree­ments that enable customers to make a call to their local flower shop and send flowers thousands of miles away for arrival that same day...

The development of the technology of today and tomorrow has been either made possible or accelerated by the ongoing evolution of com­puters. The scientific breakthroughs of the space program have ushered in an era of nearly instant communications that link people and compa­nies worldwide. Researchers have machines, apparatus, and techniques available for their use that early pioneers in science could have never envisioned. Growers now press buttons to mix soil rather than lift shov­els. They let sensors determine when to water rather than sticking their fingers into the soil. Golf course superintendents consult their on-site weather station to determine the advisability of applying chemicals or preparing work schedules...

Several types of computer graphic visualization systems enjoy popular­ity among horticulturists, most of which are adaptations of programs developed earlier for other industries.

CAD (computer-aided design) systems are accelerated drafting sys­tems, designed to do what centuries of draftsmen have done with their T-square and pencils. Computer drafting has increased mainly because of a PC-based CAD software program named AutoCAD (a registered trademark of AutoDesk, Inc.). Due to the necessity for hardware, soft­ware, and user training, AutoCAD is an expensive investment for a com­pany. It is not ready to use on delivery to the office...